IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


1.0 


I.I 


m  ly 
-  IM 

"  m 

■-  „L4  0 


111^ 

112.2 
12.0 

1.8 


1.25 

1.4 

1.6 

M 

6"     — 

► 

.^. 


<^ 


/} 


0 


e). 


w 


m 


m 


<P3 


o 


7 


Photographic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


23  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  N.Y.  14580 

(716)  872-4503 


CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  Institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiques 


1980 


Technical  and  Bibliographic  Notes/Notas  techniques  et  bibliographiques 


The  Institute  has  attempted  to  obtain  the  best 
original  copy  available  for  filming.  Features  of  this 
copy  which  may  be  bibliographically  unique, 
which  may  alter  any  of  the  images  in  the 
reproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  change 
the  usual  method  of  filming,  are  checked  below. 


□ 


n 


n 


D 


Coloured  covers/ 
Couverture  de  couleur 


Covers  damaged/ 
Couverture  endommagde 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  icstaurde  et/ou  pelliculde 


□    Cover  title  missing/ 
Le  titre  de  jouverture  manque 

□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  gdographiques  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


I      I    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 


Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  couleur 

Bound  with  other  material/ 
Reli6  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  reliure  serree  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  int^rieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  been  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajout^es 
lors  d'une  res*auration  apparaissent  dans  le  texte, 
mais,  lorsque  cela  6tait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  6t6  filmdes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentaires  suppl6mentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm^  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'il  lui  a  6t6  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-dtre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
une  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thode  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquds  ci-dessous. 


D 


D 


Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 


/ 


I      I    Pages  damaged/ 


Pages  endommagdes 

Pages  restored  and/or  lf>:ninated/ 
Pages  restaur^es  et/or,  pellicul6es 

Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  ddcolordes,  tachetdes  ou  piqu6es 


Pages  detached/ 
Pages  ddtachdes 


[771    Showthrough/ 

D 
D 
D 
D 


Transparence 

Quality  of  print  varies/ 
Quality  indgale  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  material/ 
Comprend  du  matdriei  supplementaire 

Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 

Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6t6  film^es  d  nouveau  de  fapon  d 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


10X 

This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film6  au  taux  de  reduction  indiqud  ci-dessous. 

14X                              18X                             22X 

26X 

30X 

y 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


i 

tails 
(  du 
odifier 
une 
mage 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

Libfury  of  the  Public 
Archives  of  Canada 

The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  originijii  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  --»>  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  V  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  plates,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  cornnr,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  film6  fut  reproduit  grdce  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

La  bibliothdque  des  Archives 
publiques  du  Canada 

Les  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  fes  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprimde  sont  film^s  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  filmds  en  commenpant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  dernidro  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  dns  symboles  suivants  apparaitra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbole  — ^  signifie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
film^s  d  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  cliche,  il  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supdrieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  n^cessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
iilustrent  la  mdthode. 


)rrata 
to 


pelure, 
in  A 


U 

32X 


1 

2 

3 

t 

2 

t 

4 

8 

• 

■#■■*» 


iT- 


/ 


,><r>vv- 


t  •! 


THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


ITS  ORIGIN  CONSIUKRKU  IN  REFERKNCK  TO 


GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS,  JOSHUA  FORMAN, 


JAMES  GEDDES  and  JESSE  HAWLEY. 


mmm 


THE 


ERIE  CANAL. 


IHK  (JUESTION  OF  THK 


ORIGIN  OF  THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


CONSIDERED  IN  REFERENCE  TO  GOUVERNEUR    MORRIS,  JOSHUA    FORMAN,  JAMES    GEDDES 

AND  JESSE  HAWLEY. 


A   PAPEK    KKAl)   llKKOkK.     THE   BUFFALO   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY, 

Jl'I.V     QTH,    1872. 


By  MERWIN  S.  HAWLEY. 


^  Bigetow  Brothers,  Printers,  bo,  bz  and  64  Pearl  St.,  Buff,ito._^ 


%V 


THE  ERIE  CANAL. 


The  general  subject  of  the  origin  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and 
especially  the  question:  "  Who  was  the  first  projector  ?  Who 
first  promulgated  the  project  for  such  a  canal  and  called  public 
attention  to  its  feasibility  and  utility?"  has  been  amply  dis- 
cussed before  this  society  and  settled  in  favor  of  the  author  of 
that  series  of  communications  signed  "Hercules,"  which 
appeared  in  the  newspaper  called  the  Genesee  Messenger,  printed 
in  Canandaigua,  N.  Y.,  beginning  October  27th,  1807;  and 
public  interest  in  this  branch  of  the  subject  is  perhaps  sur- 
feited, if  not  quite  exhausted. 

The  absorbing  interest  in  regard  to  this  canal  at  the  present 
,time  relates  to  the  best  method  of  making  it  adecjuate  to  the 
wants  of  the  great  and  increasing  traffic  between  the  East  and 
West,  and  effectual  to  retain  and  promote  the  commercial  pros- 
perity of  our  State  by  maintaining  its  supremacy  in  the 
domestic  commerce  of  our  common  country;  and  in  this 
connection  the  value  of  one  of  the  propositions  of  "Hercules 
is  being  more  fully  appreciated,  viz.:  that  the  canal  be  made 
one  hundred  feet  wide  and  ten  feet  deep. 

.  The  importance  to  our  State  and  people  of  putting  this 
canal  in  a  condition  ,to  accommodate  all  the  traffic  that  may  be 
offered  to  it,  at  very  low  or  nomin.nl  rates  of  toll,  which  is  now 
being  so  generally  recognized,  was  briefly  but  distinctly  set 
forth  in  a  paper  read  by  me  before  the  Club  of  this  society  on 
,the  third  of  February,  i868,  which  paper  also,  in  connection 
with  the  paper  read  by  me,  February  21,  1866,  shows  the 
history  of  the  origin  of  this  canal  from  known  and  recorded 
.facts  and  circumstances,  by  which  our  conclusions  in  the  matter 
have  been  reached. 


THK   OKIGIN    OK 


T 


But  a  due  regard  for  the  truth  of  this  history,  and  that  we 
may  readily  perceive  some  of  tlie  fallacies  that  have  been  em- 
ployed in  discussing  the  subject,  by  persons  occupying  an 
erroneous  standpoint,  and  brush  away  some  of  the  mists  with 
which  length  of  time  surrounds  human  memories,  and  so 
correct  some  errors  to  which  official  names  have  given  the 
semblance  of  truth,  render  it  proper  to  analyze  and  develop 
the  facts  and  the  circumstances  of  this  history,  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  records,  a  little  further. 

In  regard  to  the  question  of  the  "first  projector"  of  this 
canal,  the  paper  read  on  the  third  of  P'ebruary,  1868,  already 
referred  to,  notices  and  refutes  the  claim  in  behalf  of  (louv- 
r.RNEUR  Morris,  which  was  advocated  by  Georgk  Geddes, 
Esq.,  on  the  fourth  of  February,  1867 — and  which  is  based 
upon  the  recollections  of  sundry  persons  as  stated  i)y  them- 
selves some  twenty  and  fifty  years  after  the  occurrences  which 
they  relate  as  having  transpired, — and  upon  an  erroneous  con- 
struction of  the  letter  written  by  Mr.  Morris  to  John  Parish, 
dated  December  20th,  1800,  disregarding  all  the  other  writings 
of  Mr.  Morris  and  other  important  conversations  on  the  sub- 
ject  of  improvements. 

The  claim  in  behalf  of  the  "  Hercules  "  essays  is  based  on 
the  facts  that  they  were  the  first  publication  of  the  project  for 
an  overland  canal  to  Lake  Erie;  and  were  published  to  the 
world  at  the  time  they  were  written;  and  the  assurance  of  their 
author  that  the  views  they  promulgate  were  original  with  him, 
without  having  been  communicated  by  any  person;  with  the 
conviction  that  the  impartial  reader  of  those  essays  at  the 
present  day  will  not  fail  to  discover  in  them  internal  evidence 
of  their  originality  with  the  author.  .\nd  it  is  a  recorded  fact 
that  Elk.wah  Waison,  DkWitt  Ci.iNroN  and  others,  ascribe 
to  those  essays  the  first  intimation  of  the  project  which  they 
had  been  able  to  find.  Ihe  research  and  the  personal  knowl- 
edge of  Elkanah  VVa  ison  in  regard  to  the  origin  and  progress 
of  internal  improvements,  and  of  the  ])ersons  indentified  with 


THE    KRIE   CANAL. 


s 


them,  were  greater  than  any  of  his  cotemporaries  who  wrote 
on  these  subjects;  and  that  DkWitt  Clinton  was  well  and 
correctly  informed  on  the  same  subjects  need  not  be  proven 
here. 

It  was  claimed  by  me,  and  the  gentlemen  of  the  club 
approved  the  proposition,  that  a  cjuestion  of  this  kind  should 
be  determined  by  the  actions  or  the  unambiguous  writings  or 
statements  of  the  persons,  recorded  or  known  at  the  time  of 
their  occurrence;  instead  of  relying  upon  the  memory  of  other 
persons  through  a  long  course  of  years,  or  on  a  forced  and 
erroneous  construction  of  one  letter,  rendered  ambiguous, 
perhaps,  by  events  subsetpient  to  its  date,  when  other  writings 
of  the  same  person  give  abundant   evidence   of    his  meaning. 

This  latter  method  was  the  only  one  available  to  Mr.  Geddes, 
by  which  to  advocate  his  claim  in  behalf  of  Mr.  Morkis  as 
the  "  first  projector,"  and  also  the  claim  that  James  (Ieddes 
was  entitled  to  precedence  over  Jesse  Hawlev  in  connection 
with  the  project;  arguing  that  James  Geddes  had  "  received 
the  idea  "  sccond-handed  from  Mr.  Morris,  and  had  commu- 
nicated it  to  Mr.  Hawley. 

I  have  no  desire  to  open  this  (juestion;  but  reasons  already 
indicated  seem  to  require  a  further  exposition  of  some  of  the 
facts  and  their  attendant  circumstances  as  they  appear  on  the 
pages  of  history;  and  while  doing  this,  I  feel  justified  in  adopt- 
ing, to  a  small  extent,  the  same  basis  of  reasoning  used  by 
George  Geddes,  for  the  purpose  of  showing  in  what  manner 
James  Geddes  and  his  friend  Joshua  Forman  received  their 
first  intimation  of  the  project  for  an  overland  canal  from  Lake 
Erie  to  tidewater. 

In  the  paper  read  by  me  on  the  third  of  February,  1868, 
previously  referred  to,  it  is  shown  that  it  is  impossible  to 
reconcile  the  letter  of  Mr.  Morris  to  John  Parish,  dated 
December  20th,  1800,  with  the  proposition  that  Morris  had  in 
his  mind,  when  writing  that  letter,  any  idea  of  a  communication 
l.)y   water  with   Lake  Erie  by  the  overland   route,  or  by   any 


THE   ORIGIN    OK 


route  except  by  the  way  of  Lake  Ontario,  around  Niagara 
Falls  by  the  contemplated  ship  canal,  for  the  construction  of 
which,  a  company  had  been  incorporated  in  1798. 

Mr.  Morris  was  possessed  of  a  vigorous  mind  and  of  clear 
ideas,  and  he  had  a  rare  facility  of  expressing  himself  on 
paper.  He  did  not  write  ambiguous,  letters,  although  some- 
times romantic.  When  writing  his  beautiful  letters  to  Mr. 
Parish  in  December,  iHoo,  he  writes  fronv  the  standpoint  of 
his  recently  traveled  route  to  Fort  Erie  and  "  so  back  again,',' 
and  of  his  knowledge  of  the  business  route  of  the  Western 
Inland  Loc;k  Navigation  Company,  and  of  the  projected 
Niagara  Ship  Canal;  and  that  letter  has  been  made  to  appear 
ambiguous  perhaps  by  the  projection  and  successful  completion 
of  the  overland  canal  since  its  date,  or  at  least  its  meaning  has 
been  perverted  by  claimants  for  fame  in  connection  with  this 
canal  since  the  decease  of  Mr.  Morris,  and  after  the  success 
and  popularity  of  this  work  had  become  well  assured;  although 
the  letter  of  Morris  to  Ckn.  Hknrv  Lkk,  written  about  thirty 
days  after  the  date  of  that  letter  to  John  Parish,   shows  to  a 

certainty  that  his  meaning  was  "  to  sail ,  into   Lake  Erie  ',' 

by  the  Ontario  route. 

It  is  also  shown  in  the  paper  read  on  the  third  of  February, 
1868,  that  it  is  impossible  to  reconcile  the  statements  of  Mr, 
DeWiti'  in  his  letter  to  William  Darby,  in  1822,  about  his 
interview  with  Mr.  Morris  at  Schenectady,  in  1803, — with 
other  conversations  and  writings  on  the  same  subject,  by  Mr. 
MoRRiis,  while  pursuing  his  way  on  that  journey. 

I  am  not  questioning  the  integrity  of  purpose  in  Mr.  DeWitt 
for  writing  as  he  did  in  the  letter  above  mentioned.  That  letter 
.purportsito  give  from  memory  the  substance  of  an  informal 
conversation  between  Mr.  Morris  and  himself  nineteen  years 
previously, T-T-about  the  first  of  September,  1803, — while  the 
•conversation  and  writing  of  Mr.  Morris  a  few  days  afterward, 
show  that  he  had  then  no  project  nor  any  conception  of  one, 
for  a  water  communication  with  Lake  Erie  except  by,  a  canal 


THK    ERIE   CANAL.  J 

*'  from  the  head  of  Onondaga  river  as  far  east  as  it  will  go  on 
that  level;  if  practicable,  into  the  Mohawk  river," — and  that 
"a  branch  might  easily  be  carried  to  Lake  Ontario  *  *  *  at 
Oswego,"  thence  to  Lake  Erie  by  the  contemjjlated  ship  canal. 

The  public  mind  in  those  localities  was  strongly  exercised 
at  that  time  in  regard  to  improved  means  of  communication, 
long  expected  but  only  partially  realized,  by  the  Western 
Inland  Lock  Navigation  Company — and  Mr.  Morris  was  con- 
triving methods  of  communitation  between  tide-water  and  his 
large  estates  in  St.  Lawrence  County;  and  while  Mr.  DeWitt's 
position  would  naturally  interest  him  in  projects  for  public 
improvements,  the  isolated  condition  of  Onondaga  County 
would  incline  her  people  to  regard  with  intense  favor  any 
measure  that  gave  promise  of  an  easy  access  to  eastern  markets; 
and  it  is  not  surprising  that  some  of  those  people  should 
erroneously  connect  in  their  imagination  those  early  efforts  in 
behalf  of  local  improvements  with  the  first  movements  in  favor 
of  this  greater  and  more  extensive  enterprise. 

Between  the  years  1803  and  1822  very  much  had  been  said 
and  written  and  accomplished  in  regard  to  the  Erie  Canal, — 
at  the  latter  date  it  was  far  progressed  towards  completion,-^ 
many  persons  had  acquired  well  merited  fame  in  connection 
with  its  commencement  and  progress,  and  some  persons  were 
discussing  the  question  of  who  was  entitled  to  the  honors  due 
to  its  first  projector, — in  which  discussions  the  innate  modesty 
of  the  author  of  the  "Hercules"  essays  forbade  him  to  take 
any  part. 

Mr.  DkWitt's  official  position  made  him  an  observant  of  all 
this;  very  many  matters,  official  and  unofficial,  communicated 
verbally,  must  have  had  his  attention  and  then  passed  from  his 
memory;  and  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  his  recollections 
had  not  become  confused  in  regard  to  many  things  he  had 
heard  about  canals.  His  interview  with  Mr.  Morris  in  1803 
at  Schenectady  would  naturally  afford  pleasant  recollections, 
and    also  that   a   prqminent    topic    of    conversation   was   the 


.i 
1 


8 


THE    ORIGIN    OF 


improvement  of  facilities  for  transportation;  and  as,  in  1822, 
the  Erie  Canal  was  so  far  advanced  in  its  progress  of  construc- 
tion as  to  iiave  become  an  "artificial  river  "  almost  across  the 
State,  it  was  very  easy  for  him  (and  it  is  not  surprising  that  he 
did  so)  to  connect  in  his  imagination  the  conversation  of  Mr. 
Morris  nineteen  years  previously,  with  this  gigantic  work 
which  for  several  years  had  absorbed  public  attention,  and  so 
be  led  to  write  as  he  did  to  Mr.  Darbv,  that  the  remarks  of 
Mr.  Morris  in  reference  to  such  local  improvements  as  were 
engaging  his  attention  and  efforts  in  1803.  were  made  in  refer- 
ence to  an  overland  canal. 

Mr.  DeWitt  wrote  from  the  standpoint  of  a  successful  and 
popular  enterprise,  then  nearly  completed  and  extending 
through  the  State,  while  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Morris  were  from 
the  standpoint  of  several  local  improvements  having  the  Onon- 
daga river  and  Lake  Ontario  as  their  termination,  with  a  ship 
canal  around  Niagara  Falls;  and  did  not  refer  to  a  direct  over- 
land canal  to  Lake  Erie,  as  is  fully  shown  by  his  conversation 
with  Mr.  Broadhead  at  Rome,  as  he  continued  on  that 
journey,  and  by  the  memorandum  he  made  in  his  diary  at 
Three  Rivf.r  Point,  on  September  12,  1803,  while  further 
prosecuting  that  journey,  and  well  substantiated  by  the  fact 
that,  although  Mr.  DkWitt  and  Mr.  Morris  were  on  tt.rms  of 
personal  intimacy  for  many  years,  both  being  members  of  the 
first  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Exploration  in  1810,  no  record 
is  found  in  existence  to  show  that  Mr.  Morris  entertained  any 
idea  of  an  overland  canal  to   Lake  Erie  until  July    12,   1810. 

'I'he  resolution  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  1808,  on  the 
motion  of  Judge  Forman,  directed  the  Surveyor  (ieneral  to 
cause  a  survey  to  \.e  made  "of  the  rivers,  streams  and  waters 
in  the  usual  route  of  communication  between  Hudson  River 
and  Lake  Erie,  and  s  ich  other  conteniplated  route  as  he  may 
think  proper  f  and  Surveyor-General  l)KWri  r  appointed  James 
Geddes  to  perform  that  public  service.  From  Mr.  DeWiti's 
letter  of  instructions  to  Mr.  CiEDDKs,  I  cpiole  as  follows:  "  Vou 


I 


\ 


THE   KRIE   CANAL. 


will,  in  the  first  place,  examine  what  may  appear  to  be  the 
best  place  for  a  canal  from  Oneida  Lake  to  Lake  Ontario  in 
the  town  of  Mexico,  and  take  a  survey  and  level  of  it;    also 

4 

whether  a  canal  cannot  be  made  between  Oneida  Lake  and 
Oswego,  by  a  route  in  part  to  the  west  of  Oswego  River.  The 
next  object  'vill  be  the  ground  between  Luke  Erie  and  Lake 
Ontaiio,  which  tniist  be  examined  with  a  view  to  determine  what 
will  be  the  most  eligible  track  for  a  canal  from  below  Niagara 
Falls  to  Lake  Erie.  *  *  As  Mr.  Joseph  Ellicott  has 
given  me  a  description  of  the  country  from  Tonawanda  creek 
to  the  Genesee  river,  and  pointed  out  a  route  for  a  canal 
through  that  tract,  it  is  important  to  have  a  continuation  of  it 
explored  to  the  Seneca  river.  No  leveling  or  survey  of  it  mill 
be  necessary  for  the  present.  *  *  A  view  of  the  ground  only, 
with  such  information  as  may  be  obtained  from  others,  is  all 
that  can  now  be  required  of  you." 

The  "usual  route  "  mentioned  in  the  legislative  resolution 
was  none  other  than  the  "Ontario  route,"  a  portage  company 
being  employed  around  Niagara  Falls;  and  it  was  wholly  in 
the  discretion  of  Mr.  DeWitt  whether  any  othei  route  should 
be  explored,  and  to  what  extent  another  route  should  partici- 
pate in  this  development  of  its  advantages.  If  he  had  heard 
ar>  overland  route  portrayed  so  vividly  in  1803, — as  he  states 
ninteen  years  afterwards, — his  memory  would  have  been 
tpiickened  upon  it  in  1808  by  Mr.  Fohman's  proposition  and 
speech  in  the  Legislature;  and  his  patriotism  would  have 
influenced  his  discretion  to  direct  that  a  large  jjortion  of  the 
surveyor's  time  and  expense  should  be  devoted  to  explorations 
for  that  overland  route.  Instead  of  doing  so,  he  directed  that 
the  first  efforts,  the  second  efforts,  and  almost  the  whole  time 
and  efforts  of  that  surveyor  should  be  devoted  to  the  advance- 
ment of  that  route  for  "sailing  into  Lake  Erie" — which  Mr. 
.Morris  contemplated  in  1800,  when  writing  to  John  Parish; 
and  to  which  he  referred  in  1803,  when  conversing  with  Mr. 
DeWitt  at  Schenectady; — viz.  the  "Ontario  route." 


lO 


THE    ORIGIN    OF 


4  )|t 


In  Mr.  DeWitt's  letter  of  instructions  to  JaiMes  Geddes, 
which  is  dated  June  ii,  1808,  he  says:  "As  Mr.  Joseph  Em,i- 
COTT  has  given  me  a  description  of  the  country  from  I'ona- 
wanda  creek  to  the  Genesee  river,"  &c.  Mr.  DeWitt  intended, 
doubtless,  to  write  to  Mr.  Ellicott  for  that  information,  as 
he  afterwards  did;  and  he  felt  assured  he  would  get  it^  as  Mr. 
Ellicott  was  competent  to  give  it,  and  too  patriotic  to  with- 
hold it  when  applied  to.  But  Mr.  DeWitt  had  not  received 
that  information  from  Mr.  Ellicott  at  the  date  of  his  instruc- 
tion to  James  Geddes,  as  Mr.  DeWitt's  letter  to  Mr.  Ellicott 
asking  for  this  information  is  dated  June  13th,  1808,  and  Mr. 
Ellicott's  reply  is  dated  July  30th,  1808. 

Among  other  instances  that  might  be  shown  of  Mr.  De- 
Witt's forgetfulness  or  confusion  of  facts,  I  will  cite  only  one 
more,  viz:  the  (juestions  of  veracity  and  of  fact  growing  out 
of  statements  in  Mr.  DeWitt's  letter  to  William  Darby,  and 
resented  by  Mr.  Forman,  in  his  letter  to  Doctor  Hosack. 

It  is  thus  seen  that  Mr.  Dp:Witt  must  have  "misappre- 
hended" and  misapplied  the  remarks  of  Mr.  Morris  in  1803, 
when  the  former  wrote  the  letter  to  William  Darby  in  1822; 
as  it  is  shown  that  Mr.  Morris  could  not  have  had  in  mind 
any  project  for  an  overland  canal  to  Lake  Erie,  and  therefore 
he  could  not,  and  did  not,  communicate  such  a  project  to  Mr. 
DeWht;  and  it  follows  that  Mr.  DeWitt  did  not  communi- 
cate the  idea  of  such  a  project  to  James  Geddes  in  the  winter 
of  1804;  and  that  James  Geddes  did  not  communicate  it  to 
Jesse  Hawley  at  their  interview  in  Geneva,  "in  the  winter  of 
1806,"  "the  winter  before  he  wrote  his  essays."  And  it  also 
follows  that  the  efforts  of  James  Geddes  to  form  public  opin- 
ion in  favor  of  a  canal  until  1807,  when,  as  a  result  of  those 
efforts,  Joshua  Forman  was  elected  to  the  Legislature  as  a 
"canal  man,"  were  not  directed  by  considerations  of  a  canal 
"across  the  country,  and  not  by  Lake  Ontario,"  but  those 
efforts  were  directed  to  questions  respecting  such  local  canals 
as  Mr.  Morris  had  indicated  in  his  diary,  and  to  which  he 


I 


THE   ERIE   CANAL. 


II 


• 


had  reference  in  his  conversation  with  Mr.  DeWitt  at  Schen- 
ectady in  1803,  and  which  was  communicated  to  James  Geddes 
at  the  legislative  session  of  1804;  and  the  proposition  for 
such  improvements  at  that  time  was  well  adapted  to  arouse 
the  enthusiasm  of  the  people  of  Onondaga,  and  lead  them  to 
elect  to  the  Legislature  a  canal  man  of  sufficient  influence  to 
procure  an  appropriation  for  surveying  the  ground  for  any 
proposed  improvements  that  would  give  them  better  facilities 
for  reaching  the  seabord  markets;  and  with  this  view  they 
elected  to  the  Assembly  in  April,  1807,  the  "Union  Ticket" 
of  John  McWhorter,  a  Democrat,  and  Joshua  Forman,  a 
Federal,  under  the  caption  of  "Canal  Ticket;"  and  Clark's 
History  of  Onondaga  says:  "  Mr.  Forman  was  elected  upon 
the  express  understanding  that  he  would  try  to  procure  the 
appropriation  of  money  to  make  examinations  of  the  country." 

In  reference  to  the  interview  between  James  Geddes  and 
Jesse  Hawlev  at  Geneva  "in  the  winter  of  1806," — Mr. 
Hawley,  in  his  letter  to  Doctor  Hosack,  in  1828,  written  in 
response  to  a  call  for  information  on  the  subject  of  the  canal, 
and  being  the  first  time  he  was  known  to  take  up  his  pen  to 
assert  or  vindicate  his  claim  to  priority  in  this  matter, — writes 
as  follows:  "I  saw  Judge  Geddes  at  Utica,  in  April,  1804,  for 
the  first  time;  he  was  returning  from  the  Legislature;  I  saw 
him  again  at  Geneva  in  the  winter  of  1806, — this  was  about 
ten  months  after  I  had  suggested"  to  Col.  Mvnderse,  "the 
idea  of  an  overland  canal;  again  I  saw  him  at  his  house  in 
Onondaga  in  September,  181 1, — he  had  then  surxeyed  a  part 
of  the  route  under  the  direction  of  the  first  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners, when  we  conversed  on  the  subject,  I  believe  for  the 
first  tmie;  I  do  not  recollect  that  any  mention  was  made  ot  it 
when  we  met  at  Geneva, — if  there  was,  I  presume  that  1  first 
spoke  of  it." 

If  Judge  GEbDES  had  "  received  the  idea  of  passing  a  canal 
over  the  country  to  Lake  Erie,  from  the  Surveyor-Cieneral  in 
the  winter  of  1804," — and  if  the  idea  had  made  such  a  "vivid 


it 


I; 


ra 


THE   ORIGIN    OF 


impression  on  his  mind,"  as  he  states  twenty-five  years  after- 
wards that  it  did,  he  would  have  given  some  expression  to  it 
when,  on  his  way  home  in  April  following,  he  had  an  interview 
at   Utica  with    Mr.  Hawley,  who   was   then   a  merchant    at 
Geneva,  and  was  much  interested  in   any  project  for  public 
improvements.     But   no   such  communication   was  made.     If 
he  had  '*  received  an  idea  "  which  he  regarded  as  so  moment- 
ous in  1804,  and   was   unable  to  bring  the  subject  before  that 
Legislature,  of  which  he  was   a  member,  he  would  of  course 
propose   to  one   of  his   representatives   the  next  winter,  that 
legislative  attention  should  be  called  to  the  subject;  or,  neglect- 
ing that,  he  would  surely  have  solicited  his  neighbor  Jasper 
Hopper,  who  was  one  of  the  members  from   Onondaga  in 
1806,  to  press   upon  Jie  authorities  at  Albany  an  idea  of  so 
much  importance;  and  yet  there  is  no  record  nor  any  pretence 
that   any   such   action   was  taken   or  contemj)lated   until   the 
election  of  Mr.  Forman  to  the  Legislature  of  1808; — and  yet 
Mr.  Forman  himself  gives  a.  full  contradiction  to  the  "idea" 
which  it  is  pretended  has  been  handed  doivn  from  Mr.  Morris, 
and  to  the  statement  that'  he  was  elected  on  the  theory  of  an 
overland  canal.     And  if  Judge  Geddes  had  been  so  much 
impressed    with    the   paramount    importance  of  an    overland 
route  as  has  been  claimed,  he  could  not  have  consented  as  he 
did,  without  some  strong  remonstrance,  to  carry  out  the  in- 
structions of  the  Surveyor-General,  and  expend  the  whole  sum 
appropriated  for  his  expenses    and    the    entire   summer  and 
autumn  in  exploring  the  Ontario  route,  including  the  Niagara 
Ship  Canal   project;    which   service    Judge    Geddes   says  he 
"entered  upon  with  enthusiasm;"  and  yet,  from  the  information 
derived  from  the  "  Hercules  "  essays,  or  upon  the  suggestion 
contained  in  the  closing  paragraph  of  his  instructions,  he  was 
induced   to  make  a  cursory  winter  examination  between  the 
Seneca  and  Genesee  rivers;  and  he  left  his  home  in  the  month 
of  December  and  dev*.  ;ed  some  days  amidst  the  snows,  for 
that  purpose. 


THE    EPIE    CANAL. 


13 


ars  after- 

sion  to  it 

interview 

•chant    at 

or  public 

nade.     If 

moment- 

:fore  that 

af  course 

nter,  that 

•,  neglect- 

r  Jasper 

ndaga  in 

lea  of  so 

pretence 

until   the 

—and  yet 

e  "idea" 

Morris, 

try  of  an 

so  much 

overland 

ed  as  he 

t  the  in- 

hole  sum 

mer  and 

Niagara 

says  he 

jrmation 

ggestion 

he  was 

een  the 

e  month 

ows,  for 


Valuable  as  that  winter  examination  may  be  called,  as  one 
of  the  preliminaries  to  the  great  enterprise  which  was  com- 
menced a  few  years  afterwards,  the  labors  and  explorations  of 
that  whole  season,  together  with  Judge  Geddes'  report  and 
other  written  statements,  are  so  inconsistent  with  the  pretence 
that  it  "  was  not  an  agreeable  work  for  him  to  survey  the 
Ontario  route,"  and  that  "  his  views  were  all  directed  to  finding 
a  practical  route  overland,"  that  they  leave  no  alternative  to 
the  conclusion  that  both  Judge  Geddes  and  Mr.  DeWitt  were 
iutjnt  upon  and  absorbed  with  a  determined  purpose  to  ad- 
vance the  interests  of  that  route  to  Ontario  and  thence  to  Lake 
Erie,  which,  in  the  years  1800  and  1803,  had  engaged  the  pen 
and  dictated  the  conservation  of  Gouverxeur  Morris. 

Although  Mr.  Form  an  was  elected  in  April,  1807  (elections 
being  then  in  the  spring),  the  first  and  regular  session  of  that 
Legislature  did  not  commence  until  January,  1808;  and  Mr. 
FoRMAN  had  time  during  that  interval  to  inform  himself  in 
regard  to  the  question,  so  important  to  the  isolated  condition 
of  the  people  of  Onondaga,  upon  which  he  had  been  especially 
elected.  That  he  improved  the  time,  to  some  extent,  for  that 
purpose,  and  for  increasing  his  abilities  for  usefulness  to  the 
State  as  well  as  to  his  constituents,  will  appear  from  the  sequel. 
In  1807  Mr.  Form  AN  was  a  lawyer,  having  his  office  at 
Onondaga  Hollow.  James  Geddes  also  lived  in  that  vicinity. 
He  writes  in  1829:  "Between  the  years  180.4  ^"d  1808  I  had 
often  conversed  with  my  neighbor.  Judge  Forman,  on  the 
subject  of  the  canal  to  I.ake  Erie."  And  Mr.  Forman  says  he 
conversed  freely  with  Judge  Geddes  on  the  subject.  Benajah 
BviNGTON  also  lived  in  the  same  vicinity,  and  he  held  the 
office  of  Justice  of  the  Peace.  The  Genesee  Messenger  was  pub- 
lished in  Canandaigua,  and  among  its  agents  in  most  of  the 
■central  counties  in  the  State,  who  were  authorized  to  receive 
subscriptions  and  payments  for  it,  was  Jasper  Hopper,  the 
Postmaster  at  Onondaga  Hollow.  Doctor  Hosack  says  of  this 
newspaper:  "  It  was  then  extensively  circulated."     No  news- 


i 

1 
i 

i 

14 


THE   ORIGIN    OF 


pa])cr  but  one  of  respectability  and  general  circulation  would 
be  likely  to  secure  the  services  as  its  agent  of  such  a  man  as 
Jasper  Hoppkr. 

Th{  first  number  of  the  series  of  essays  by  Jesse  Hawley, 
signed  "  Hercules,"  had  for  its  caption,  "  Observations  on 
Canals,"  in  full  capital  letters,  and  was  published  in  the  Genesee 
Messenger,  October  27th,  1807,  occupying  a  conspicuous 
position  on  the  first  page  of  the  paper.  The  second  number,  in 
which  the  route  for  the  canal  is  traced  from  Lake  Erie  to  the 
Mohawk,  was  published  November  3d,  1807.  The  third  and 
the  fourth  numbers,  in  which  are  discussed  the  length  of  time 
requisite,  and  the  size  of  the  canal  that  should  be  adopted, 
were  published  on  the  tenth  and  the  seventeenth  of  November, 
1807,  respectively.  The  fifth  number,  in  which  the  probable 
cost  of  such  a  canal  and  its  commercial  utility  are  treated  of,  was 
published  November  24th,  1807.  The  sixth  number,  in  which 
its  agricultural  and  commercial  importance  is  profoundly  dis- 
cussed, was  published  December  8th,  1807.  The  seventh  and 
the  eighth  numbers,  which  are  devoted  to  the  question  of  the 
resources  of  capital,  were  published  respectively  on  the  fifteenth 
and  the  twenty-second  of  December,  1807.  The  remaining 
numbers  are  devoted  to  pointing  out  other  improvements  in 
various  portions  of  the  United  States;  number  ten,  particularly, 
showing  the  great  resources  and  the  growing  power  of  the  State 
of  New  York,  if  this  canal  shall  be  constructed,  and  setting 
forth  the  project  for  the  Champlain  Canal. 

As  has  been  already  remarked,  the  impartial  reader  of  those 
essays  will  not  be  in  doubt  about  their  originality.  Doctor 
HosACK  says  of  them:  "They  must  have  had  great  influence 
in  preparing  the  legislative  measures  that  succeeded." 

The  action  of  Mr.  Forafan  in  the  Assembly  for  procuring 
surveys  in  the  interior,  was  in  February,  1808,  three  months 
subsequent  to  the  date  of  the  newspaper  which  contained  the 
delineation  of  the  route  for  the  canal;  and  as  Mr.  Forman 
was  not  under  the  necessity  of  leaving  his  home   to  take  his 


THE    ERIE    CANAL. 


15 


tion   would 
h  a  man  as 

E  Hawley, 

vations    on 

the  Genesee 

:onspicuous 

number,  in 

Erie  to  the 

;  third  and 

gth  of  time 

be  adopted, 

November, 

le  probable 

ated  of,  was 

r,  in  which 

oundly  dis- 

iventh  and 

tion  of  the 

he  fifteenth 

remaining 

ements  in 

articularly, 

f  the  State 

nd  setting 

cr  of  those 
u     Doctor 
influence 

procuring 
se  months 
tained  the 
Forman 
J  take  his 


seat  in  that  Legislature  until  January,  and  his  neighbor, 
Jasper  Hopper,  the  Post  Master,  was  the  agent  for  the 
Genesee  Messenger,  and  of  course  was  early  supplied  with  every 
number  of  that  newspaper,  Mr.  Forman  had  ample  ojiportu- 
nity  to  study  all  those  essays  which  related  to  the  Erie  Canal, 
before  going  to  enter  upon  his  official  duties  at  Albany.  And 
the  coincidence  between  the  views  set  forth  and  the  language 
used  by  Mr.  Forman,  in  his  speech  in  support  of  the  resolu- 
tion he  then  offered,  and  the  views  and  language  of  "  Her- 
cules," in  the  essays  published  on  the  third,  tenth  and  twenty- 
fourth  of  November  and  on  the  fifteenth  of  December,  1807, 
suggests  the  probability  that  they  originated  in  one  and  the 
same  mind;  and  also  that  the  promulgations  of  "Hercules" 
had  stimulated  Mr.  Forman  to  the  study  of  that  lengthy  and 
abstruse  dissertation  on  canals  in  the  sixth  volume  of  Rees' 
F3ncyclopedia,  which  he  did  after  arriving  in  Albany. 

Benajah  Bvington  and  Jesse  Hawlev  had  some  corres- 
pondence upon  this  subject  in  August,  1835,  which  was  pub- 
lished at  the  time. 

Judge  Oliver  R.  Strong,  an  early  resident  of  Syracuse, 
and  of  the  first  respectability,  says:  "In  the  years  1807  and 
1808  I  knew  Benajah  Bvixotox  very  well.  He  was  a  Jus- 
tice of  the  Peace,  was  a  man  of  good  education  and  general 
cultivation  and  respectability;  and  any  letters  he  would  write 
in  regard  to  public  matters,  or  to  historic  or  (a.irrent  events  in 
that  vicinity,  would  be  entitled  to  entire  credibility;  his  ver- 
acity was  unquestionable."  And  Judge  Strong  adds:  "  I 
know  Byington  must  have  been  intimate  with  Forman,  and 
often  in  his  office." 

Mr.  Byington  wrote  to  Mr.  Hawley  under  date  of  August 
26th,  1835;  from  which  letter  I  quote  as  follows:  "I  can 
state  from  recollection  which  is  very  distinct  on  the  subject, 
that  I  lived  near  Joshua  Forman  (then  a  lawyer  in  Onondaga 
Hollow)  in  the  years  1806,  1807  and  1808;  that  I  was  often  in 
his  office  in  those  years,  and  there  I  saw  the  newspaper  called 


( 


i6 


THE    ORIGIN    OF 


the  Genesee  Messenger,  containing  a  series  of  publications  on 
the  subject  of  a  route  for  a  canal  from  Lake  Erie  to  Utica, 
and  recollect  hearing  remarks  made  at  that  time  by  Mr.  For- 
MAN  and  others,  on  the  subject  of  those  publications.  I  spent 
a  part  of  the  winter  of  1819-20  in  Albany,  with  Judge  Forman, 
In  a  conversation  while  there,  he  asked  me  if  I  recollected  the 
publications  which  we  had  seen  many  years  before  in  the 
Genesee  Messenger,  and  had  noticed  how  nearly  the  route 
there  laid  down  corresponded  with  the  route  that  had  been 
adopted  and  was  then  in  progress.  I  told  him  I  had  not  seen 
those  papers  since  about  the  time  of  their  publication.  He 
then  invited  me  to  go  with  him  to  Elkanah  Watson's,  who 
kept  a  file  of  that  paper.  Mr.  Watson  produced  a  file  of  the 
papers  alluded  to,  and  we  amused  ourselves  in  comparing  the 
route  you  had  proposed  with  the  actual  line  adopted  by  the 
Commissioners,  and  were  all  surprised  that  so  little  deviation 
from  the  route  you  had  laid  down,  had  taken  i>lace.  It  was 
from  them  that  I  first  learned  that  Jesse  Hawi.ev  was  the 
author  of  those  publications,  and  from  the  conversation  there 
had,  I  supposed  they  believed  Jesse  Hawlev  to  be  the  first 
projector  of  the  route  of  the  canal  which  had  been  adopted  by 
the  State." 

From  Mr.  Haweev's  letter  to  Mr.  Bvingion,  I  also  quote 
the  following:  "  While  I  claim  the  reputation  of  having  first 
written  on  the  subject  of  an  overland  canal,  Judge  For.man 
and  Judge  Wright  have  the  prominent  reputation  of  being 
the  first  legislators  who  gave  it  an  official  consideration  and 
set  the  ball  of  the  project  in  motion;  and  it  is  highly  gratifying 
to  my  feelings  to  learn  from  you  that  Judge  Forman  derived 
his  first  idea  of  it  from  my  writings.  This  fact  was,  indeed, 
intimated  to  me  by  Dr.  Thomas  H.  Rawson,  formerly  Super 
intendent  of  the  Public  Saltworks." 

Dr.  Rawson  was  Superintendent  of  the  salt  springs  in  the 
year  1808,  and  occupying  a  public  and  official  position,  he 
might  be  expected  to  confer  freely  with  Mr.  Forman  upon  mat- 
ters of  public  interest. 


THK    KRIF.    CANAL, 


17 


We  have  seen  that  those  essays  of  "  Hercules  "  were  "  the 
original  and  the  first  publication  of  the  project  for  the  over- 
land route  of  the  canal,"  and  that  the  author  of  them  did  not 
"  receive  the  suggestion  as  coming  from  Gouverneur 
Morris." 

We  also  learn  from  the  well  authenticated  sources  which 
have  been  set  forth,  that  those  essays  did  furnish  both  the 
inspiration  and  the  material  for  that  legislative  action  initiated 
by  Mr.  Forman  in  February,  1808;  and,  as  we  have  the  state- 
ments of  both  Mr.  Forman  and  James  Geddes,  that  they  were 
on  terms  of  frequent  and  friendly  intercourse  during  several 
years  about  that  period,  and  often  conversed  together  on  the 
subject  of  internal  improvements,  freely  exchanging  views  and 
plans  with  each  otlier,  the  conclusion  is  unavoidable,  that  they 
both  derived  their  first  impressions  in  favor  of  an  overland 
route  to  Lake  Erie,  from  the  same  source. 

The  Genesee  Messenger  had  its  agent,  the  Postmaster  in  that 
village,  the  county  seat  of  Onondaga,  and  the  paper  must  have 
been  very  generally  seen  and  read  there;  Mr.  Geddes  and  Mr. 
Forman  were  reading  and  thinking  men;  both  were  diligently 
seeking  information  in  regard  to  any  measures  that  would  be 
likely  to  benefit  the  country  o*"  their  residence;  and  we  cannot 
perpetrate  such  an  indignity  to  their  intelligence  and  patriotism, 
nor  so  entirely  disregard  all  the  known  evidences  bearing  upon 
the  case,  as  to  permit  a  doubt  that  both  of  those  gentlemen 
read  the  essays  of  "  Hercules  "  in  November  and  December, 
[807,  within  forty-eight  hours  after  the  newspapers  which  con- 
tained them,  were  printed. 

In  addition,  therefore,  to  the  claim  of  priority  and  originality 
in  regard  to  the  project  of  an  overland  canal,  made  by  and  in 
behalf  of  the  author  of  the  "  Hercules"  essays,  I  also  claim,  as 
the  inevitable  conclusion  from  all  the  recorded  facts  and  cir- 
cumstances connected  with  the  subject  which  are  known  to 
the  public,  that  James  Geddes  received  his  first  intimations  of 
that  project  from  the  communications  of  Jesse  Hawlev. 


A 


